Wild Nothing
“Paradise”
Nocturne (Captured Tracks, out 8/28) 

After listening to “Paradise” for the first time yesterday, I was struck by how much Blacksburg, VA-native Jack Tatum has grown as a songwriter since his impressive debut Gemini dropped two years ago. I remember playing Gemini for my ex, and her response was “if I wanted to listen to the Cure, I’ll just go listen to the Cure.” While I disagreed, she certainly wasn’t wrong. We got a taste of his progression on 2010’s lovely Golden Haze EP — the one that really made me fall in love — but nothing on that feels as fully realized what we’ve heard so far from Nocturne.

Tatum’s voice is still as Breakfast Club-y as ever, and the Cure/Smiths references are still very much intact, but this is no hollow pastiche. At some point, people got over the fact that m83’s Anthony Gonzalez loved John Hughes movies, and just started appreciating his starry-eyed, earnest celebration of that moment for what it was: fucking brilliant. And I feel like people should/are going to start doing the same for Wild Nothing. We may have heard this sound before, but we’ve never heard this voice before. Now that Tatum seems to have truly found his, it’s up to all of us to sit up and pay attention.

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Check out Nocturne‘s first single, “Shadow.”

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The xx
“Chained”
Coexist (Young Turks)

There are plenty of things about the xx’s debut album that made it stand out from all the other albums released that year, but its most defining characteristic is undoubtedly its restraint.The fact that the sexiest British album in years was defined by its restraint isn’t unexpected, but it was astounding to hear a group so young with such an advanced understanding of space. xx never tries to be sexy; it just is. And a lot of that is based on what was left unsaid and unheard. The trio is back to their old tricks on their sophomore LP, Coexist, and its second single is a perfect example of their impressive knack for writing subtlety gorgeous tunes. Twin vocalists Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim are born to sing together, and their voices slither over a sparse, lulling arraignment only punctuated by a trademark single-string guitar line. Like, “Angels,” the disc’s first single, it isn’t going to blow anybody over on its own, but it foreshadows an album that looks set to live up to its superlative, sublime predecessor. Roll on September 10.

Sean Blackthorn
One Night EP

In the last few months, I’ve written so much about this Toronto-based soul singer that you could be forgiven for thinking that the dude must have me on the payroll. But as long as he keeps pumping out downtempo R&B/neo-soul this good, I’m going to have to keep writing about him. In many ways, this feels like the culmination of a thought that started with the hauntingly beautiful single, “Hymns & Questions,” which was released all the way back in February. One Night does more than fulfill the promise of the excellent previously released singles and is very much the fully-realized, cohesive statement that we’ve been waiting for from the talented vocalist. Blackthorn’s music always feels like it was recorded in some chilly, cavernous cathedral (though it’s actually recorded in his bedroom), and that’s never been more apparent than on the opener, his arresting take on “Ave Maria.” From there, the Canadian’s tenor leads us through love (“Just to Say I Love You”), sex (“GIRLS I,” “GIRLS II”), and heartbreak (“Best/Friends”) with startling honesty and perspective. When listening to this EP, it’s easy to forget that Blackthorn is still in his early twenties, and as brilliant as One Night is, it feels very much like the final act of the first volume of his career. I can’t wait to see where he goes from here, and it really feels like he is just getting started.

Twin Shadow
“Run My Heart” (Live Session for Yours Truly)
Confess (Terrible)

This is the second best love song of 2012. Ironically, it deals with the exact same feelings as the year’s best love song, Frank Ocean’s “Bad Religion.” “Run My Heart” is also about unrequited love, but it examines it from a completely different perspective. Where Ocean opines that he “could never make him love me,” Twin Shadow mainman George Lewis Jr. remains characteristically defiant, issuing the cocksure, brazen warning: “You don’t know my heart/So don’t you dare.” Make no mistake, this woman does know Lewis’ heart and has affected it deeply, all you need to do is listen to the conviction in his voice. But he simply refuses to give her the satisfaction of admitting the truth.

Somebody told me that the first step to getting over someone is simply telling yourself that you are over them, no matter how untrue that may be. This is the sound of a man trying to take that first step. He does such a good job of trying that if you’ve never been through heartbreak, you might actually believe him when he wails, “This isn’t love/I’m just a boy, and you’re just a girl.” But those of us who have, know better.

Finding one love song this penetrating is difficult enough; finding two in a matter of a few weeks is a godsend.

Bat for Lashes
“Laura”
The Haunted Man (Parlophone)

British singer Natasha Khan is always good for a stunning first single. “Daniel,” the lead single form her 2009 Mercury Prize-nominated LP Two Suns, is probably one of the best 100 pure pop songs I’ve ever heard, and while “Laura” lacks much of its energy, it lacks none of its soul, songwriting prowess, and bombast. Khan’s powerful, plaintive vocal absolutley soars over a contemplative piano line and a beautifully meandering string arraignment. It tells the story of a woman who refuses to relinquish her bachelorette-hood though all of her friends are dropping like flies. Instead of lamenting the life the proverbial “lonely spinstress,” the track triumphantly celebrates her audacious decision to hold on to her freedom and have her “name tattooed on every boy’s skin.” It’s a lovely “hello again” from an artist who still hasn’t quite created the flawless album her prodigious talent deserves. The Haunted Man drops October 15.

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Just in case you forgot, here’s “Daniel” in all its glory.

Danny Brown x Araabmuzik
“Molly Ringwald”
Single (Yours Truly)

“Just found out that my name is synonymous with “ecstasy” in hip-hop circles. Proof to my parents that I’ve accomplished something in my life.” — @MollyRingwald

Any song that inspires the woman who played Claire Standish to Tweet this (and inexplicably put quotes around the word ecstasy) is already a win in my book. And while the Tweet was amazing, it doesn’t hold a candle to this super dope collaboration between the country’s hottest young(ish) rapper and its hottest young producer. Over a characteristically ambient, bulldozer of a beat from the Providence-based producer, Detroit’s finest goes the only way he knows: hard as fuck. Brown and Araab (né Abraham Orellana) are perfect bedfellows because both have been able to maintain their experimental spirits, while staying incredibly consistent and digging out original, distinctive sounds. In other words, you’ll never know what either will do next, but you know it’s going to be dope. There aren’t a lot of artists you can stay that about.

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Check out a video of them making the track. I fuckin’ love Danny. It’s also amazing to watch Araab’s creative process; dude makes it look so easy.

The XX
“Angels”
Coexist (Young Turks)

Finally, the wait is over. I recently wrote about my hopes/thoughts/expectations for the South Londoners ultra-anticipated sophomore LP, and if you missed it, I’m really fucking excited about it. Yesterday, we got our first real taste of Coexist, in the form of this characteristically vulnerable, crushing new love song. Driven by Romy Madley Croft’s delicate vocal and a single-string guitar line, “Angels” captures much of what made the trio’s debut resonate with so many people in such a penetrating, enduring fashion. While the XX is never going to be a singles band, thanks to the subtly of their work, this is one of the singles that excited me most this year — predominantly because it signals that Coexist is likely going to bark up the same tree as XX, which is one of my favorite albums of the last five years. Roll on September 11.

Kendrick Lamar
“Swimming Pool (Drank)”
 good kid m.A.A.d city (Top Dog)

I must admit that I can’t tell exactly what drank LA-based MC Kendrick Lamar is talking about dranking here. At first I thought he was talking about alcohol, but I’ve drank a fair bit in my life, and no booze has ever made a disembodied voice talk to me. I tried lean one time in college, but that didn’t make me this nervous. It just made me want to lay around, nap, and listen to screwed up Fat Pat tapes, so probably not that either. Maybe it’s got bath salts in it. Whatever it is, it totally fucks you up.

This, the second single from Lamar’s major label debut, is a perfect example of why so many people I know fucking love this dude. His music has the unique ability to totally engulf the listener in the world he creates, and this track’s anxious, woozy backbeat combined with Lamar’s paranoid, tense flow creates a perfectly inebriated atmosphere. Chuck D famously referred to hip-hop as the black CNN, meaning the genre’s duty is to report what was going on in the black community, but the Black Hippies (Lamar, Ab Soul, Schoolboy Q, and Jay Rock) take it a step further. They want the listener to physically feel the weight of their reality, as drugged-out and disquieting as it is.

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